UVa football has reached the bye week, and basketball season is fast approaching. The Cavaliers open their 2023-24 season in 26 days against Tarleton State at JPJ, with a new-look roster with plenty of fresh faces to pair with a young and talented group of returning players.
With so many new pieces and roster changes, it’s unclear at this point how UVa’s rotations and lineups will play out. Tony Bennett has plenty of roster battles to keep an eye on in practices and scrimmages leading up to the opener, and usually lineup tinkering goes well into the season before he settles on a top group.
As we begin rolling towards hoops season and previewing the 23-24 Wahoos, we’re trying to project several different lineup combinations that UVa could go with this year, particularly to start games. Granted, this is far from every combination and there are plenty of options that we didn’t write down, but below we’ve come up with eight possibilities that could maximize several characteristics, be it size, ball-handling, shooting or defense.
Here’s what we’re assuming in our lineup projections:
Reece Beekman and Ryan Dunn are projected starters, and we’re just going to assume that’s the case until proven otherwise. Beekman is a 100 percent lock to start if healthy, and Dunn should too, given the versatility he can bring to the lineup.
Isaac McKneely, Andrew Rohde, and Jordan Minor seem most likely to start after the first two, but there are several options where one of them comes off the bench. McKneely and Rohde play in a crowded backcourt with a lot of different lineup combinations, and while Minor seems like a solid addition, perhaps he gets pushed by freshman Blake Buchanan for time, or UVa goes with a small lineup as they did for much of last season.
There are scenarios where other players end up starting, but they’re not as likely. For this exercise, we’re assuming there isn’t a shock lineup spot for first-years Elijah Gertrude, Anthony Robinson or Christian Bliss, though Gertrude could end up seeing the floor with the other two likely to redshirt.
Lineup No. 1: The Two Point Guard Lineup
Dante Harris, Reece Beekman, Isaac McKneely, Ryan Dunn, Jordan Minor
Since the UMBC loss and Kihei Clark’s arrival, UVa has played virtually two ball handlers in the backcourt at all times. It allows more matchup flexibility and both players can theoretically play off-ball on a possession-by-possession basis. Clark is gone now, of course, so we’ll see if Bennett sticks with this approach or not.
Clark’s replacement if they do go with this lineup if the Georgetown transfer Dante Harris, a quick guard who sat out last year after coming to UVa. Harris averaged 11.9 points per game in the 2021-22 season with the Hoyas, and could be a sneaky-productive addition. The rest of this lineup is relatively standard. We went with McKneely over Rohde for the third guard spot given his experience, and the fact that he’s a known commodity. Dunn and Minor in the frontcourt is the default configuration for most of these lineups.
Lineup No. 2: The Best Offensive Lineup?
Reece Beekman, Isaac McKneely, Andrew Rohde, Ryan Dunn, Jordan Minor
This is the same as the first lineup, except Harris is subbed out for Rodhe. This would make Beekman the primary ball handler, though Rohde can play a bit of point guard and did so at Saint Thomas last year.
We categorize this as the best offensive lineup, but that depends on what UVa gets from Rohde and Minor as transfers, and whether Dunn and/or McKneely make the leap forward we expect. Harris and Rohde are different players and perhaps they’re a bit of a wash from an offensive productivity standpoint, but Rodhe probably has more upside if he can improve his outside shooting numbers from last year.
Lineup No. 3: The Freshman Starter Lineup
Reece Beekman, Isaac McKneely, Ryan Dunn, Jordan Minor, Blake Buchanan
This lineup has just one pure ball handler but is a bigger group than the previous two. We had to put a lineup out there that features freshman big man Blake Buchanan, who had an impressive senior year and should be able to see some playing time this season. The question is how quickly the rookie big man can gain the trust of his coaches, and how he and Minor or others could play together. Minor is a smaller big from a smaller league, and perhaps he’s more of a 4 at an ACC school than a 5. If that’s the case, and Buchanan shows he can play some defense and execute as expected, perhaps he bucks the trend of young big men not playing much early under Bennett.
Lineup No. 4: The Transfer-Heavy Lineup
Reece Beekman, Andrew Rohde, Ryan Dunn, Jake Groves, Jordan Minor
This lineup doesn’t seem super likely, but it was worth putting on paper. This five features three newly-acquired transfers in Rohde, Minor and Jake Groves. Most see Groves as a sixth-man type player, and perhaps that’s exactly where he ends up. The Oklahoma transfer should provide solid depth if nothing else, and has potential as an outside shooter and a rebounder at 6-foot-9. We doubt he starts right away, but we might have said the same about Ben Vander Plas last year, and he ended up starting most of the games.
Lineup No. 5: The THREE Point Guard Lineup
Dante Harris, Reece Beekman, Andrew Rohde, Ryan Dunn, Jordan Minor
Okay, this is a bit of a stretch, but play along with us. We mentioned before that Rohde could play point guard if needed, and Harris and Beekman are point guards first, and off-ball guards second. Could this be the new version of a similar approach UVa ran with Clark, Kyle Guy and Ty Jerome in 2019? This lineup is a bit of a blend of the first two but with McKneely on the bench, which could be detrimental to the offense. Though, regardless of which guards start, they’re all going to play quite a bit.
Lineup No. 6: The Experienced Lineup
Dante Harris, Reece Beekman, Taine Murray, Ryan Dunn, Jordan Minor
We had to have a Taine Murray lineup, didn’t we? He was a forgotten man for most of last season but saw an uptick in playing time late, especially when Vander Plas was injured in the postseason. It remains to be seen whether Murray can take a step forward, or he sort of is what he is and playing time will be scarce, but if he’s going to make a jump, now’s the time. He does have a lot of other guards and wings to contend with for playing time, but with several years in the pack-line now maybe 2023-24 is his time to break out.
Lineup No. 7: The Shooter’s Lineup
Reece Beekman, Isaac McKneely, Andrew Rohde, Jake Groves, Ryan Dunn
This lineup is optimized to spread teams out and hit shots. Is it sustainable on the defensive end? Probably not. This group could be played in spots though, perhaps at the end of a half or if the Hoos need to make up some ground. But it might be asking a bit too much of this group to string a bunch of stops together, unless Beekman and Dunn are absolutely dominant on that end.
Lineup No. 8: The Athletic Lineup
Dante Harris, Reece Beekman, Leon Bond, Ryan Dunn, Jordan Minor
This is our Leon Bond lineup, another under-the-radar player heading into the season. Bond redshirted last year, and could have a bigger role than many anticipate now. This lineup would be a good late game group if UVa needs stops, and has the potential to be a very fun group to watch on both ends. The only problem with this group is shooting, but they might have enough athleticism to render that a moot point against less-athletic opponents.
Our Guess: Lineup 1 or 2 is the default starting lineup and both are used frequently; Other lineups listed can be used in crunch time based on game scenario.
